He was born at either Upper Kinmonth[1] or Clochnahill Farm, Dunnottar, Kincardineshire, and trained as a gardener at Inverugie Castle, Aberdeenshire, before moving to Ayrshire and becoming a tenant farmer.

[2] The Burnes family are said to have had Jacobite sympathies, illustrated by the fact that William thought it necessary to get a certificate from three Kincardineshire landlords, testifying that he was "a very well-inclined lad".

He was ambitious to set up as a nurseryman for himself so he feued, from Dr Alexander Campbell of Ayr, 7+1⁄2 acres (3 ha) of land at Alloway.

[5] Unable to make a living in this way alone, or possibly seeing it as a better option, he obtained in the summer and autumn of 1757 a position as head gardener and overseer[5] at Doonholm, the estate of a retired London doctor, Provost William Fergusson of Ayr.

[2][6] As overseer for two years he was fully employed and had the responsibility for "..laying out parks and gardens, planting of avenues of trees, construction of roads, re-planning of farms."

[5] In 1775 and 1776 Ayr Town Council awarded him the contract for laying out the new Greenfield Avenue and it was this work that provided him with the funds to purchase the aforementioned feu from Dr Alexander Campbell of Belleisle.

By 1765, the Alloway cottage had become too small, and William Burnes approached Provost Fergusson with a view to leasing Mount Oliphant farm, then known as High Corton,[5] two miles distant.

William Burnes eventually won his appeal to the Court of Session on 27 January 1784, and paid the balance of the rent which had been set against his own expenses in liming, fencing, and erecting new buildings.

Isobel Burns remembered her father as being cheerful, keen to make his children happy, approachable, affable, and fond of a joke, rarely given to anger.

He was a tender and affectionate father; he took pleasure in leading his children in the path of virtue; not in driving them as some parents do, to the performance of duties to which they are averse.

"[2] Robert Burns composed the following lines for William's headstone : "O ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains, Draw near with pious rev'rence, and attend!